continued fraction

noun

, Mathematics.

1. a fraction whose denominator contains a fraction whose denominator contains a fraction, and so on.

continued fraction

noun

1. a number plus a fraction whose denominator contains a number and a fraction whose denominator contains a number and a fraction, and so on

Word History and Origins

Origin of continued fraction¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

An efficient way to find its rational approximations is to use continued fractions, which alternate being slightly less and slightly more than the irrational value.

From FiveThirtyEight

If a or b is unity, a/b cannot be converted into a continued fraction with unit numerators, and the above method fails.

From Project Gutenberg

The continued fraction is therefore incommensurable, and cannot be unity.

From Project Gutenberg

He had not then the continued fraction, a mode of representation which he gave the next year in his work on the square root.

From Project Gutenberg

The simple continued fraction is both the most interesting and important kind of continued fraction.

From Project Gutenberg

Similarly the continued fraction given by Euler as equivalent to (e - 1) (e being the base of Napierian logarithms), viz.

From Project Gutenberg